Scars
by LovingSeleneTheVamp
Summary: This is a story about, Surprise, Rizzoli and Isles. After everything they've been through, they both have emotional and physical scars. Can anyone save them? Can they save each other? Can anybody explain the cases they keep getting? Rizzles.
1. Scars

So this is a new tale for you guys. I haven't given up on my other Fics, I just needed something a little new to keep the writing ball going! This is a Rizzles Fic, several months after season three ends. So everything that happened in the season finale will be addressed, but it's in the past. This is also well past Jane killing Hoyt. But everything leaves a mark on people. so don't worry, here I go.

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I opened and closed my hands, first making tight fists, then splaying them out on my desk. I did this again and again, watching the way the muscles in my arms interacted to open and close my hands, examining the way my fingers motions flowed smoothly any way I wanted them to. Hands are something I kind of obsess over.

People don't think about their hands. They don't realize that everything they do comes from them. How important it is that we have hands. We use computers. We make our food. We hold our children, the people we love. We drive with our hands. We write with them. We read books with them. Virtually everything we do comes from our hands. Some of us have perfect hands. I mean, after all, there are hand models, aren't they? Most of us have imperfect hands. We get paper cuts, cut our hands cooking, burn them, bruise them, hurt them in some way, scar them in another. I looked at my scars. A million times a day people everywhere hurt their hands. But my scars didn't come from me. My scars came from a maniac. The scars on both my hands told a story that I could care to forget.

You can't rewrite your history. You can put a pen in your hands, a keyboard under your fingers, a typewriter on your desk. No matter how you do it, no matter how hard you try, you can't rewrite that.

"_Jane…How lovely to see you."_ I could still hear his disgusting voice, see his smirking face. _"I like that scent, the smell of lavender and fear."_ His voice echoed in my mind, his every sentence forever etched into my memory. His grey hair, his wrinkled face, his piercing blue eyes haunt me every night. That first time I encountered him I had been in pursuit of him, attempting to save a woman when he had snuck up behind me. He hit me over the head with a two by four, and when I came to I was pinned to the ground, with scalpels through my hands. I ran a finger over one of the scars. It was a small puckered line of skin. The marks on my palms were identical, matched by another pair of scars on the opposite side of each hand.

"Jane." I jumped, putting my hands under my desk.

"What?" Korsak was staring at me like I had two heads.

"Jane." He sat down on the edge of my desk, and dragged my hands out, holding them in his own. "Hoyt's dead. He isn't coming back for you. I know we had too many close calls, but it's ok. It won't happen again."

"I know, Korsak. I know he's dead. I know he won't be back for me." I pulled my hands from his, hiding my scars. "But these aren't the only scars he left me."

"I know. He scarred us all, remember?" He pulled down the collar of his shirt, showing a thin scar on his neck where Hoyt had tried to slit his throat with a scalpel. "And I know what we went through was nothing compared to what you did. But that's all over."

"I know. I'm fine." I was anything but fine, but I couldn't take the pity in his eyes. The worry. And no matter what Korsak was saying to me now, almost a year after I'd killed Hoyt with my own two, scarred hands, I could still feel Hoyt over me. I could still see him cutting Maura's neck before I killed him. And always, on a day to day basis, I could hear what he'd said to me, the second time he'd tried to kill me: _"You know, your problem is that your heart rules your head." _Of all the things Hoyt had ever said to me, it was this that was the most sinister, and it was this that stuck with me most often.

"Ok…" Korsak said, but he sounded unsure. "Come on. We got a case."

"Where's Frost?"

"He's downstairs."

I grabbed my coat off the back of my chair, throwing it around my shoulders and following him to the elevator. He pressed the button, and we only had to wait a moment before the doors opened. Eager to avoid another emotional moment, I asked, "What do we know?"

"Not much. We received a call about a blonde twenty something in an alley. Dispatched EMS, she was DOA. So we're on our way." We met Frost at the front door and Korsak drove the cruiser to the scene. It was already surrounded by cop cars and taped off.

We walked by one of the paramedics on the scene. "Did you attempt to administer any kind of assistance?" Frost asked the question as we passed.

"No. It was obviously unnecessary." The minute we were under the tape we knew why. Lying in the alley, just out of view of the street was a young woman, probably mid-twenties, lying in a pool of her own blood. As we got closer I put on a pair of gloves and crouched down next to her body.

"What do we know?"

Frankie answered me from the other side of the alley. "The victim is Amber Hadley, age twenty six. Her driver's license says she's from Austin Texas. We're trying to find out where she's been staying and why."

I leaned over the body, looking closely at her. Her hands had no defensive wounds, and she was very well dressed. I looked at her throat, which was cut. Even I could see that the cut looked precise, almost surgical in nature. _"I dropped out of medical school, Agent Rizzoli, you know that." _Hoyt's voice played through my mind again, and I almost fell over with the power of it.

"You ok?" Korsak asked, eyeing me again.

"I'm fine. Where's Maura?"

"I'm right here, Jane." I turned around to see Maura ducking under the police tap with her bag at her side. She smiled, and it felt like my whole day was better, like one day, I might actually be ok. And still, I heard his voice, my constant reminder. _"You know, your problem is that your heart rules your head."_

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What do you think?


	2. Arteries

Well, here's chapter two. I'm feeling a little flooded with this idea, so I am working kind of quickly to get it out. sorry for mistakes, but I'm doing my best! I hope you like it, so read on!

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Maura was at this crime scene just like she was at every other one: Looking like she was going on a date. She walked almost daintily in her heels, with her bag hanging at her elbow. She set down her bag and pulled out a pair of purple gloves, pulling them on and crouching down next to me. Her elbow brushed my knee and I took in a sharp breath.

"Jane, are you alright?" She looked at me with concern.

"Yeah Maura, just a…um…" I paused, looking for an excuse.

"Are you feeling lightheaded?"

"Yeah, it's no big deal."

"You better be careful Jane. Lightheadedness could be a sign of any number of things, from dehydration to a brain tumor. What has your fluid intake been like lately?"

"Are you trying to diagnose me again?"

"Of course not. Simply offering medical advice." She picked up the victims hand and looked over it. "There are no defensive wounds on either of the victim's hands." She leaned forward, opening the girls mouth a little bit. "She doesn't appear to have bitten her attacker." She bent the girl's arm at the elbow. "Rigor is just beginning to set in."

"How long has she been dead?" I asked, looking up and down the girl. She was well dressed, wearing a blouse and a business like knee-length skirt. There weren't any signs of struggle.

Maura checked a small thermometer. "Liver temp indicates about four hours ago, but I'll know more once we get her back to the lab."

"How does a perfectly healthy twenty six year old girl let someone slit her throat without putting up any kind of a fight."

"Jane, don't make assumptions. Maybe she wasn't perfectly healthy at the time."

I saw an opportunity to goad Maura that I couldn't pass up. "Maybe you're right. How do you think she was kept from fighting?"

"Without any kind of further information I wouldn't be able to-"

"Maura."

"What?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "Take a guess."

She looked offended. "Jane, you know I do not guess."

"Oh, marvelous Dr. Isles, in previous cases where your victims have been discovered without defensive wounds, what was the reason, and do you think any of those could apply in this case?"

"Well, in the past I've had victims influenced by alcohol, drugs, and one very unfortunate man who was dying from rat poisoning when his throat was slashed. I actually wrote a very interesting report on the effect of rat poisoning as a blood thinner, and how the severing of the carotid artery is actually easier on the victim under the-"

"Maura!" I cut her off mid tangent. "I need a little less Talking Google and a little more analysis."

"Well Jane, there isn't very much I can assess here. I am not a walking talking Tox screen, and I refuse to guess without evidence." She leaned forward, feeling the back of the victim's head. "There are no signs of any kind of blunt force trauma, so she wasn't knocked unconscious that way. What was her name?"

Korsak answered. "Amber Hadley."

Maura looked right at the victim's face and spoke to her, even though her eyes were closed. "What happened to you, Amber?"

* * *

"So what do we got?" I folded my arms over my chest.

Maura spared me a sideways glance before speaking. "Arms crossed over one's chest often represent a subconscious attempt at protecting one's self. Are you feeling the need to be defensive Jane?"

"Maura, stop psychoanalyzing me. I know you have like a PHD in it or something, but I hate when you do that." I could hear the whining in my voice, but there was no stopping it. "What do we got?" I asked again.

"You mean, 'What do we _have_?'" She pointed a finger at me to emphasize the point she was making.

"Maura." I growled at her, watching her smirk at my frustration. She loves driving me crazy.

"Well, I haven't even finished my preliminary autopsy, but Amber died of an obviously severed carotid artery. There was something odd about the cut though. Look here." She pointed at the edge of the cut. "It's deeper here, around the right common carotid, gets shallower over the trachea, as if not to sever it, and then deeper again to cut the left common carotid. This in itself is odd, but if you look at the entire cut from a distance, you can't see any kind of disruption in the cut. So whoever did this was either extremely lucky, which is incredibly unlikely, or very skilled with a scalpel, and likely has some kind of background in the medical field."

I covered my unease and put a hand over my heart, faking a gasp. "Maura, is this you guessing!?"

"I am not guessing!" She looked genuinely offended. "I am merely theorizing using the evidence presented. Stop being so ridiculous."

One of the lab techs walked in, nodding to us both. "Dr. Isles, Detective Rizzoli. I have the Tox report." She handed it to Maura and left quickly.

"Well that was odd. She seemed to be in a hurry." Maura took off her gloves and flipped through the report. "Well there was no alcohol in her blood. They did note high levels of some kind of sedative."

"Do you know what it is?" I walked to her side, peering into the file with her.

"Yes. They identified it as," She flipped a page, then stumbled over her words, dropping the file at my feet. She seemed suddenly unsteady, so I threw my arms around her, trying to keep her up. The pure terror I could feel through her put me on the lookout, and I surveryed the room around us, looking for a threat.

"Maura, please. What is it?" There was no panic in my voice. In situations like these I keep calm and collected.

"It's…Jane it's what was in her blood. I know why she didn't fight back."

"What Maura?" And suddenly, I knew before she said it. There was some kind of sedative in the victim's blood, and the mere sight of it on the page had panicked Maura. There was only one reason Maura would act like that.

"She had high levels of Enderol in her blood. Not enough to kill her, but enough that she couldn't have fought back." The look in her eyes scared me, while at the same time making me want to kill whoever was scaring her. It was what she would have described as an irrational response, but I couldn't stop it either.

"Hey." I turned her to face me. "Look, just because it's the same drug doesn't mean anything. How many times have you encountered Enderol in your career."

I hoped, prayed, that she would say that it was a common drug to come across. Instead she said the one answer I dreaded. "Just three." And she didn't explain herself, because I knew the three times she'd seen it. Once in Dennis Rockmond. Once in a dead hooker. And now. Things were not looking good at all. And were apparently about to get worse.

Frost came bursting through the door into the examination room, where he looked at Maura and I oddly. I dropped my hands off her shoulders. "What is it Frost?"

His eyes skipped over the body on the table, and he turned his back and put his eyes on the ceiling. "There's another body been reported. It sounds related to this case. Young woman, throat slit, no defensive wounds. You might wanna come too Maura." He left the room, and Maura gave me one more heart wrenching look before removing her examination gown and glasses, grabbing her bag, and following Frost out. I looked at the clock. It was eleven at night. I rubbed my eyes, willing myself to make it through the rest of the shift.

"Jane?" Maura spoke softly to me from the door. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah Maura, let's go." I followed her out, shutting the door and letting her lead the way to the elevator.

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Anyone feeling intrigued? I hope so! Review, or favorite and follow!


	3. Two For One

Well, here's the next chapter. I feel kind of stupid after writing this. Like the ideas I had for this story are awful. Let me know, please?

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Maura and I rode together in her Prius to the crime scene, tailing the cruiser with Frost and Korsak in it. Typically I would hassle her for driving what I called a 'lunch box on wheels' but we were both too on edge for that. I stared out the windshield, watching the tail lights of the cruiser leading the way.

"You know Jane, it's highly unlikely that the presence of Enderol in a victim has any kind of connection to previous cases. There are roughly 625,000 people in Boston, and any of them could have access to Enderol. And if you consider that the population of the US overall is about 312 million, that increases the chances of a complete stranger, unrelated to any of our previous cases, using Enderol to subdue a victim. And honestly, -"

"Maura, I swear to God if you spout any more statistics at me I'll scream. You're giving me a headache."

She was silent for a moment, and I considered apologizing, until she said, "You know, headaches are one of the first signs of dehydration, along with thirst. Are you sure you've been drinking enough?"

"Yes, I'm sure I've been drinking enough." I wanted her to think I was frustrated with her, so I put my head on my hand and looked out the window. Really though, I was hiding the fact that I was smiling from ear to ear. In my head I always twisted her weird need to medically diagnose me into proof that she just cared a lot about me. I mean, I know she cares about me, but I want her to _care_ about me. I want her to feel the same things I feel, to stop in her tracks when I walk into a room. But I've never been a show stopping kind of woman, so I don't really have any kind of hope. I don't have anything but my job, my family, and a best friend.

We slowly approached an area on the very edge of our jurisdiction. An alleyway between a bar and a restaurant was roped off, and even at this time of night a crowd had gathered. Maura and I got out of the car, pushing our way through the crowd. "Excuse me, move it, get out of the way." I guided Maura through the crowd, using one arm to create a space, my other hand on the small of Maura's back.

"Thank you Jane." She smiled at me as I held up the police tape for her. If I was a more foolish girl, I probably would have gone weak at the knees. But too many years in the police force had made me a tough woman. I looked away from her and up to the scene. I had a mild case of déjà vu. This crime scene looked almost exactly the same as this afternoon's. The body was partially hidden by a dumpster. As I got closer I could see more and more of the victim. Maura was a step ahead of me, and it was her gasp that alerted me. My hand jumped to my gun as I rounded the corner of the dumpster, and I immediately saw what had caused her shock.

The victim on the other side of the dumpster was a young woman, dressed in date clothes. She had on heels, a short skirt, and a flashy sequined shirt. She didn't look like she'd struggled. Her clothes weren't wrinkled, her knees weren't scraped. There were no marks on her face, and her throat was slit. The most disturbing part of the whole scene was the way her hands weren't scraped in any way. Actually, her hands were gone. Maura looked up at me as I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. I could practically read her mind as we shared a look. She put her gloves on and kneeled down by the body. "Jane, I need you to look at this."

"What is it Maura?" I pulled on my gloves, kneeling down by her. Maura pulled back the hair behind her ear a little bit, revealing a small red mark.

"You know what this is?"

I took a deep breath, steadying myself before I answered. "That's a Taser mark." Korsak and Frost looked at us, confused. "What the hell is going on here? Slit throats, taser marks, Enderol? Am I the only one getting flashbacks here? Maura, please give me some ridiculous statistic about how this is unlikely."

"Well Jane, I wish I could. But coincidences actually only occur so often in the universe. When this many miniscule details coincide, it is actually more likely that they are connected."

"That doesn't make me feel better Maura."

"I'm sorry."

Korsak stood next to the body while Frost questioned some of the witnesses. "I don't understand."

"Me either. But it looks like we've got some bizarre copycat." I paused, thought about it. "Or another apprentice."

Maura stood up, pulling off her gloves. "Don't say that."

"How else do you explain it Maura? This one is missing half her arms. She has no defensive wounds! What do you bet we find Enderol in her system?"

"I do not make bets. Too much guessing involved, and even probability isn't enough to guarantee a bet."

I stared at her for a moment. "Are you trying to drive me crazy?"

Maura looked shocked. "No. Of course not."

I looked around the alley, looking for some kind of clue. I pointed to a camera on the corner of a building. "Can we get footage from that?"

"I'm on it." Korsak wrote a note on a pad he was carrying with him.

The constant flashes of cameras illuminated the alley as I looked around for something, anything. A weapon, a clue, a hint to what was happening here. I got down to the ground and looked under the dumpster. There was a piece of paper. I grabbed one of the evidence guys. "Hey, can you document this?" He saw what I was looking at, photographed the dumpster, moved it, and took a picture of the paper, logging it for me. I pulled out an evidence bag, and picked up the piece of paper. It was a note, and it looked like it was meant to be found. I read it over once, then looked up at Maura.

"What is it, Jane?" I handed her the evidence bag, and she read it out loud. "'Two for the price of one. The ME and the detective, just for fun.'"

"Are you two being toyed with?" Korsak asked in disbelief.

I felt the familiar pit settle into my stomach, but I didn't let the fear creep into my voice. "It doesn't matter. We'll work these cases like any other."

"No you won't." Korsak put a hand in front of me. "You won't be on this case at all. You or Maura. We've made this mistake before, where we've seen these signs and we haven't pulled you. You're off. You and Maura. And I'm calling Sean." He pulled out his phone and was in the middle of dialing the number when he looked up, surprised I was still there. "Go. This case involves you. Go."

"Korsak."

"That's an order Rizzoli." His no nonsense tone told me we were done discussing this. "Sean, it's Vince. We need to talk."

"Come on Maura. Let's go."

"Of course, first I need to make a call." She gave me the 'wait a minute' finger. "Hi, Doctor Pike? Yes, this is Dr. Isles. I need you on a case." She finished her conversation as we walked to the Prius. "I cannot stand him." She took a calming breath. "I don't think I've ever seen you surrender so easily Jane."

"Yeah well, I need a night off. What do you say we go back to my place and have some beers?"

* * *

"That sounds lovely." She sent me a smile over the top of her car before we got in.

Two hours later found us sprawled on my couch. Well, I was sprawled. Maura was sitting up as perfect as ever, with a glass of wine in one hand, and the other hand draped across my legs. She was on her fourth glass of wine, and I was already starting my seventh beer. "You know that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you're drinking? I love that feeling."

"That is intoxication Jane. The rising of your blood alcohol level causes that fuzzy feeling you're describing."

"You drive me insane Maura."

"Do I really?" She cocked her head sideways, much like a dog does.

I stuttered a bit. "Uh, no, not really. You don't drive me crazy."

She gave me that dazzling smile I could never get used to, and I felt my stomach flip. "Jane, are you afraid?"

I laughed. "Afraid of what? Maura, I don't do fear. Are you scared?"

"Yes. After what I went through with Dennis, I am slightly afraid. I am afraid that someone may get me Jane." She paused for a moment, and then repeated even quieter. "I am slightly afraid."

I swung my legs down so I was sitting straight up. I swayed a little, feeling the alcohol. But I put my arms around Maura anyways. "I won't let anything get to you. I won't let anyone hurt you, and I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."


	4. Nightmares

So this is a very short chapter, my sincerest apologies, but as it is I believe it stands alone just fine. So, hopefully you guys accept and appreciate this as it is. I hope so. I am sorry. More soon!

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_I pulled open the doors to the barn, and inside was the Mercedes we were looking for. Shit. I knew I shouldn't have come without backup, but a life was on the line, and I had no time to wait for Korsak. I pulled my weapon, walking around the back of the house. I paused, listening for any sounds from the inside. There was nothing. I turned the handle on the back door, and nothing happened. Of course he would lock the door, he isn't an idiot, I thought to myself. I took a step back, preparing myself to kick the door in, and that was when I heard it. There was a rustling, or a whimpering maybe. Some kind of noise that I couldn't quite place, but it was coming from the basement._

_I backed away from the door, walking around to the cellar door. I pulled it up and walked down the steps cautiously with my weapon drawn. My attention was drawn by movement in the corner. There was a woman lying on a mattress, duct taped at her hands and feet and across her mouth. She made that whimpering noise again. "Don't worry, I'm gonna get you out of here." And right before it happened, I felt that odd sense, that déjà vu invasions, a small warning, but then it was too late. A two by four cracked over my skull, and it was lights out._

_When I came to he was leaning over me, running a scalpel the length of my cheek. My hands were on fire, and he had stripped me of my blazer. I tried to contain myself, but small noises that can only be made by fear came out. "Jane." He said in that raspy voice that would forever torture me. "You thought you were here to save her, didn't you?" He didn't wait for me to answer, just moved the scalpel down to my neck and prepared himself to cut my throat. "This will be so much fun, Jane." And at the exact moment he was about to push the blade down, the doors to the cellar flew open, and Hoyt leaped off me, brandishing the scalpel the way one might a sword. Korsak opened fire, putting three shots into Hoyt's chest. Hoyt dropped ,and Korsak ran in, covering me with his suit jacket._

_"It's ok Jane, I've already put a call in, you'll be ok." He looked at the way my hands were painfully pinned by scalpels to the ground. "Oh Janie, just hold on."_

_I turned my head to the side where Hoyt was lying on the ground unmoving. Suddenly, his eyes opened and his head snapped quickly to the side so that he was facing me. "Oh Janie, you don't think it's that easy do you? You were always my biggest challenge, and I can't wait to see you again, with a little bit of help…" And he looked up at Korsak._

_My eyes followed Hoyt's to where Korsak was still kneeling above me. Only, it wasn't Korsak anymore. It was Hoyt. "Now, where was I?" And he slit my throat._

I woke up covered in a sheen of sweat and screaming. Even as the darkness of the cellar became the darkness of my room, I couldn't contain myself. Maura bolted upright next to me, from the place she often spent her nights. And yet, even as I registered that I was safe, the scream wouldn't stop coming.

"Jane, it's ok. Everything is ok." Maura put her arms around me, wrapping me up and pulling my head to her chest. She smoothed the hair off my sweaty forehead, while hushing me like a child. Finally, the screaming stopped. I gasped, struggling to breathe and regain control of myself. A sob escaped me, but Maura kept rocking me back and forth. "Is it the nightmare again?" I couldn't make words yet, so I just nodded. She held onto me, pulling a cloth off the bedside table and wiping my forehead with it. "It's not real Jane. None of it. You're gonna be ok."

"I know." I put my hands on her arms, holding them closer to me. "It all feels so real every time."

"Was it different this time?"

"Sorta. This time Korsak turned into Hoyt and killed me. Last time Korsak never even came." I tried to choke back the tears, so they just continued silently rolling down my face.

"Hey, hey." Maura pulled my face up so I was looking right at her, even though it was dark, as she wiped my tears away. "Hoyt is gone, and he's never coming back. He will never hurt you ever again."

"I hate feeling like this. I hate the way that the littlest mention of Hoyt terrifies me. When will this stop Maura?" I choked on her name, and even in the aftermath of my fear hated the weakness in my voice.

"Scars like that don't just go away Jane. They must heal. And this kind of hurt takes years to heal. This is not weakness in you, this is strength. This is you fighting to heal. And you will." She held on to me until my breathing had steadied and my tight grip on her arms had relaxed a bit. "Are you gonna be ok?" Maura asked me gently.

"Yeah, I'll be alright."

"Good." Maura leaned forward and kissed the top of my head, and warmth flooded me from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. "Try and get some sleep, we have work to do tomorrow."

"Good night Maura. And thank you."

"You're welcome." She let go of me and I laid back down facing away from her. But knowing she was there was enough, and I fell asleep quickly after that, and nightmare free.

* * *

I woke up early the next morning before either of our alarms went off. I was warm and super comfortable, and the idea of starting my day was a terrible one. I started to reach for my phone to check the time, before I realized why I was so comfortable. Maura's body was melded to mine, and her arm was draped across my body, her hand tucked under me. I could feel her breath on my back where her head was nestled between my shoulder blades, and could hear the soft sound of her sleeping. I pulled my arm back, resting it gently over Maura's, and letting myself lie still and pretend for just a moment that she had done this on purpose, and that something more than a subconscious need for warmth had drawn her to me in her sleep. That maybe, just maybe, she dreamt of me, or after I slept she wound her arms around me to comfort herself, not me. I was lost in these thoughts when Maura's alarm went off. Naturally, it was one of Beethoven's compositions, some concerto or some other ridiculous thing I couldn't remember.

Maura awoke with a start, withdrawing her arm from around me and rolling over to where her phone was on the bedside table. I stayed still, pretending to be asleep as Maura silenced her alarm. "Jane." She said softly. "Jane, it's time to get up." No sooner had she spoken then my alarm went off.

I yawned. "Damn it, I'm not ready to be awake." I reached sleepily for my cell phone, silencing the alarm and pretending to have just woken up.

"Well my friend, you have no choice, as we both have jobs to do." She got out of the bed, gliding over to where she kept her 'backup bag' in my closet, for unexpected nights such as last, where she ended up sleeping over here. "Buck up," she said as she carried her bag to the bathroom, "We have Dr. Pike to deal with today." She flashed me that 1000 watt smile as she walked through the door.

I groaned loudly, then slammed the pillow down over my head.

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As usual, please let me know how you feel about this chapter? I do my best, when I can, and the past two weeks have been fraught with writers' block. I know where I want this to go, but suddenly not how to get there. So whatever you have to say!


	5. Statues

The newest chapter! I try and get at least one out a week, and it's been a week since I updated so...enjoy!

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"Dr. Pike?" I asked, leaning forward slightly in my impatience, "Is there any chance you'll be beginning this autopsy soon?"

"Perfection cannot be rushed. I assure you the victim here is in no hurry, therefore, I am in no hurry."

Maura glared daggers into the back of Pikes head. I tried not to smile at how cute she looked. _Cute? What?_ I let that thought slide, and tried to encourage Dr. Pike again. "Dr. Pike," I'd always found that addressing him clearly, and with his name, was the best way to get a favorable outcome with him, "It would really be of great assistance to us if you could begin. This investigation is incredibly important."

"Detective Rizzoli, each and every investigation is of equal importance. And if I am correct, neither you nor Dr. Isles is even on this one. Am I correct?" I grunted in response. "Then, if you two would kindly leave the room, I will begin. I cannot work with you two hovering over me."

"Are you saying you wish to kick me out of my own examination room?" Maura asked indignantly.

Pike never even looked up. "Well, I wouldn't have used a phrase as blatantly crass as that, but yes, that is essentially what I am saying. Good day."

Maura stormed out of the room in a huff, indignation written all over her face, so I left with her. She shut the door between her office and the examination room. "I absolutely hate that man. I think I may reassign him to the outskirts of Massachusetts purely out of spite."

"Would you really do that?" I asked her, impressed.

Maura thought it over. "No, but sometimes I like to entertain the thought to improve my mood. It helps make Pike somewhat bearable. He's probably going to tell us something ridiculous, like the wound in her neck was cause by a .45."

I snorted. "Maura, if you hated him that much, I'm sure you could call in someone else."

"Actually, I couldn't. He's the closest certified M.E. to our area, and I assumed you wouldn't want to wait two days for me to find a suitable replacement to fly in."

"Alright alright. Let's go upstairs before you sass me to death or shoot Dr. Pike."

She followed me to the elevator, but added, "Just so you know, I wouldn't shoot him. I know what kind of murders are most likely to be caught. If I was serious, I would likely use tetramethylene disulfotetramine. It's odorless, colorless, tasteless, and is not among the common poisons on a tox panel. His would be ruled a suspicious death, and nothing more."

I gave her a strange look as the elevator arrived. "Remind me not to piss you off."

"Oh, don't worry. I would never attempt to kill you Jane. Decorated cops are too sorely missed." She smirked at me.

I laughed, leading the way off the elevator into the squad room. "Guys," I said to Frost and Korsak, "Please distract me. Maura is planning murder."

Frost looked up from what he was doing. "Murder of who?"

"Dr. Pike." Maura added.

"Be my guest." Korsak answered. "He won't be missed."

"What are you guys up to?"

Frost pointed at his computer screen. "We're trying to watch all the video footage from the alley where the first victim was found. There were three cameras, one at each end of the alley, and one across the street pointing towards the alley. We're watching hours and hours of video."

"Can we help?" I asked.

"I don't know," Korsak muttered. "Chief said you two were off the case."

"Korsak, come on. What am I supposed to do with that free time? And you know having two more sets of eyes on the footage can make everything move along that much faster."

"She's right Korsak." Frost agree with me. "We have tons of video to go through, and when the video from the second victim comes in, there will be that much more."

Maura and I gave Korsak puppy dog eyes. Of course, he caved. "Alright alright. Come on." We all moved into the room next to the squad room, where we kept our newest computers, our multi-screen hookups, and other technology to help us analyze videos, fingerprints, trends, and other data. Korsak often reminds everyone around him that these things didn't exist in his day, but it's a new dawn, a new day, and a new generation. Frost got onto the main computer, dropping the video files into a shared folder we could all access.

"Jane, Maura, I'm giving you two the across the street camera. I'll take the front of the alley, and Korsak, you can have the back of the alley. Time of death narrowed the video down to a period of time about four hours long. So, here we go." Across three of the screens Frost had an established timeline. On one big screen Frost was watching his video. Korsak was already absorbed in his computer, and Maura and I were watching our video on our computer. The room was silent for about fifteen minutes before Maura and I came across something in our video. There was no warning, no movement on the street, when suddenly, from off screen, a red light started to move into the view of the camera. The dot danced around for a bit on the video before it hit the lens dead on, and the entire picture scrambled, turning to grey snow. Maura gasped.

"Frost, we have a problem. Look at this." I rewound our video, put it on the big screen, and showed Frost and Korsak what Maura and I had just seen. After the video turned to snow again I turned to Frost and Korsak again. "I've only seen cameras scrambled with a laser pointer once before."

Korsak and Frost agreed, and then both looked at Maura. She had her eyes cast down, because we were all having the same thought. The last time we'd seen something like this, it had been when Dennis Rockmond was knocking out cameras to set up his statues. My mind kicked into overdrive. Were we gonna start finding statues next? Would there be hostage situations where men were locked up and their wives were taken, only to be found assaulted? What was going on? I was pulled from my own thoughts when Frost showed his and Korsak's videos next. Two minutes after the first camera was knocked out, the second and third were disabled in similar fashion. We all kind of sat in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Frost's cell phone rang. "Frost." There was a pause. "Ok. Thank you." He hung up the phone. "I've got bad news. Last night the cameras in the alleyway where our second vic was found were down for maintenance. So we have no video around the time of our murder."

"What is going on here?" Korsak asked. "I mean, I know I'm not the only one having flashbacks, right?"

"Depends on if you believe in coincidences." Frost said, cynically.

"I don't." I said firmly. Everything is connected.

"Then we're going to have to prove that these aren't coincidences. We need everything we have on our victims. Hometowns. Social circles. Jobs. What they were doing the nights they died. If they go to the same library. Anything. Let's get going." Korsak launched into cop mode, getting us in gear.

Hours later none of us had moved. We could find very little in common about our victims. Amber Hadley was twenty and had recently moved to Boston from Texas. She hadn't even been in the area long enough to get her address changed. No boyfriend, no contacts we could find yet. The second victim, Bethany Russell, was completely different. She'd lived in the area her entire life. Twenty three, recent grad from BCU, working a secretary job. Nothing about her life so far suggested she should be a target to anyone. She was incredibly low risk. The lists of suspects were short. We could interview her roommate or her boyfriend, and were waiting to begin with her parents, after they identified the body. But so far, no leads, tangible or otherwise. So far we were operating at a dead end.

I sat back, putting my hands behind my head. "There has to be something we're missing. Some kind of clue."

"Well, until Dr. Pike brings us his autopsy findings, there isn't much more we can know." Frost said. "Maybe you two should call it a day. It's six o'clock, and all we have left to do before we call it a day is interview the parents. There's really nothing else you guys can do today."

Maura shut the file she'd been rereading, and she stood up, stretching a bit. "Thank you, I think I'd like to go home. Will you call us when Pike finishes, or at least forward me his preliminary report?"

"Of course. We'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Bye guys." I grabbed my blazer from the back of my chair, putting it on and following Maura back to the elevator. "You hungry?"

"Actually, I am."

"How about The Dirty Robber? Grab some beers and some dinner?"

"Ok, but if you think I'm going to be drinking beer from a can again, you are sorely mistaken."

I laughed at her. "Oh, dearest Maura, I would never encourage you to commit such a travesty again. How dare you think so lowly of me?" I put my hand over my chest in the most dramatic way I could.

"Ok Jane, my mistake. Stop being so dramatic."

We reached the front door to the station, and I held it open for Maura. "After you, my lady." I bowed a little.

"Why thank you, kind sir." She smiled at me, and the butterflies assaulted me again. Would I ever get used to this feeling? I plastered a smile on my face and assured myself again, _You'll get over it. It's just a phase._ And then I escorted my best friend to dinner.

More often than not, Maura and I spend the night in the same place. Or we would travel very late from the other's house to our own. So me going home with Maura at nine at night, when I could have easily gone home, wasn't odd at all. I often went to Maura's just because of the fact that my mom lives in her guest house. In fact, I am just as familiar with Maura's house as I am with my own. I unlocked the door, leading Maura in. I flipped on the lights and stopped short. She ran into my back, obviously distracted by one thing or another. "Jane? What is it?"

"Maura, call Korsak. Now." She pulled my phone off my hip and started dialing without even asking why. But honestly, there was no question that needed to be asked. The cause of my alarm was quite obvious. Because dead center in the middle of Maura's living room was an eight foot tall, bronze, carved, Venus De Milo.

I could hear Maura behind me on the phone, summoning Korsak and Frost, but there was only one thought in my mind at that moment. "Ma?" I called, as I ran through the house to the guest house. "Ma!?"

* * *

What did you guys think?


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